Canada's main stock index opened higher on Monday as shares of precious metal miners were supported by gold prices that climbed towards near six-year highs.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 11.49 points to open Monday at 16,513.94
The Canadian dollar faded 0.1 cents to 75.71 cents U.S. early Monday
Raymond James raised the target price on Alaris Royalty to $19.50 from $18.50.
Alaris shares ducked 24 cents, or 1.2%, to $19.50.
RBC raised the target price on Cogeco Communications to $96.00 from $94.00. Cogeco surged $1.03, or 1.1%, to $94.50.
TD Securities raised the rating on Mullen Group to buy from hold. Mullen gained 39 cents, or 4.1%, to $9.83.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 0.87 points at 593.94
Seven of the 12 Toronto subgroups were positive to start the session, with gold surging 0.5%, materials 0.4% more solid, and financials richer by 0.2%.
The five laggards were weighed by health-care, down 1.4%, information technology, sliding 0.7%, and energy, off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose slightly on Monday as investors looked ahead to a key meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at this week’s upcoming G-20 summit.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 50.4 points to begin the week at 26,769.53, buoyed by United Technologies.
The S&P 500 regained 2.87 points to 2,953.33, as the utilities and consumer staples sectors outperformed
The NASDAQ Composite inched up 4.49 points to 8,036.19
The major indexes came into Monday’s session up more than 7% each in June. Those gains erased a massive selloff in May, which was fueled by China and the U.S. hiking tariffs on each other’s products.
Dow member United Technologies rose 1% after an analyst at Cowen upgraded the stock to outperform from market perform. Deere shares, meanwhile, climbed 0.7% after being upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
In corporate news, Caesars Entertainment shares surged 14% after the casino operator agreed to be bought out by Eldorado Resorts for more than $17 billion, including debt.
Trump and Xi are expected to discuss the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China at the summit, which is set to start Friday. Investors are hopeful the two leaders will get closer to a deal that will end the conflict.
China and the U.S. have slapped tariffs on billions of dollars worth of their goods over the past year. Last month, the two countries hiked tariffs targeting some goods.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, thus lowering yields to 2.04% from Friday’s 2.06%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices retreated 11 cents to $57.32 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices improved $10.30 to $1,410.40 U.S. an ounce.
